Beverage container insulators are widely used to provide thermal insulation for beverage cans or bottles and to provide a comfortable covering for holding such a can or bottle by the consumer. One such beverage insulator is known from U.S. Design Patent. No. D709,337 which illustrates the insulator as being in the form of a cup in which the beverage container, a can or bottle, is placed. These known cup shaped insulators partially envelop the can or bottle leaving the top portion of the can or bottle exposed, allowing the consumer to drink from the open top of the beverage container. Such beverage container insulators provide a measure of insulation and are somewhat effective in maintaining the temperature of a cold or hot beverage in relation to a warm or cold environment for a period of time.
Although the know beverage container insulators may maintain the cooler temperature of a beverage just removed from a refrigerator for example, when compared to a non-insulated beverage container, because the top portion of the can or bottle is exposed to the environment, the temperature of the beverage still rises fairly rapidly.
Another drawback of the know beverage container insulators stems from the fact that, in use, the open top of the can or bottle is continually exposed to the environment. As such, over the course of consuming the beverage, crawling and/or flying bugs, insects, and other pests are able to access the beverage through the open top of the can or bottle which can cause the person drinking the beverage to become sick. With the top of the beverage container be exposed, it is also possible for foreign objects, debris or matter to enter the can or bottle such as for example by means of wind. This is generally regarded by the consumer as being unpleasant and may cause the consumer to throw out an unfinished beverage.